Is there really enough money in the series to go hybrid? I thought costs were are source of pain now, with V8's - can't imagine hybrids will help there.

The cars/series needs to be simplified to reflect the realities of racing cars in Australia.

A point I have raised before, a hybrid car will cost far far more to build and run than either a straight IC car or full BEV and the latter would be by far the cheapest. What a BEV will do will put engine builders out of business.

This year, with s5000 and TCM and other support classes, 4 hour live coverage on ch7, with a lot of promotion, it just might do a "world series cricket"
The crowd for WSC were terrible to begin with, sell out crowds after a year or so.

Hence why the new-for-1997 IMG/Supercars 1000 won the war and is in its 23rd year, while the original Bathurst 1000 carried on for a couple of years but carked it after 1998 then the event as a whole after 1999....

The fans watched the stars in the new race and didn’t care that the original 35-year old race died off, similarly with World Series Cricket, the stars win out.

Btw the Improved Production rules have suffered such creep over 20 years that they are just about Sports Sedans now and I would suggest there are cars there approaching Super2 car costs.

I think I know which ones you are talking about ;-)

Would get around the problem of having to run current body shapes however and end the reliance on manufacturers.

Maybe a new ruleset based on IP which winds back the freedoms on suspension components / geometry, allows minimal aero and body mods, and puts an age limit on cars to keep it relevant (i.e. a 6 year rolling window).

Almost sounds like Group C / Group A hybrid

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I want you to go back out on that track.... and hit the pace car

Think of crystal ball thread re cars that aren't due to appear for a couple of years can be quite interesting and no doubt will move around a fair bit this year and next.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

The startling lack of commentary on the part of the promoters seems to indicate they are still trying to work that out. That they do not appear to have a business plan or some sort of strategy to deal with what to others seemed to be obvious is nothing short of bizarre. How much are these people paid?

Well VASC has (in particular, the CEO) has mentioned a number of times that they're working on the plans for the 2022 and beyond car. From the various things that have been said, it seems to me that plenty is going on and when they have the plans finalised, we'll find out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevor

Supercars days are very much numbered, they have painted themselves into a corner and there is no return from it - just look at how the TCR series is gaining fan momentum

People have been predicting Supercars days to be numbered, pretty much right from the start. This time you may be right Trevor, or maybe not. TCR after one season hasn't really "gained fan momentum" in a sense of causing Supercars days to be numbered but it could work as a series (so far so heavily subsidised it's hard to know) and time will tell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by E.B

Yep TCR it seems is growing as fast as VASC is declining and disappearing up its own orifice.

After one season of heavily subsidised competition, run at small crowd events, TCR has at least partially established itself, signs are good that it can work but when there was nothing before, "growth" can look awesome on startup - in my view we probably won't have a clearer picture of its strength (or not) until at least the end of this year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

I think the lack of comment in this thread says it all, RIP Supercars?

What's there to comment on in any great way, given that what the Supercars racing vehicles will look like in 2 years time is as yet unknown? It's all hypothetical and given that this thread has existed for 7 days and could run for 2 years, a slow(ish) start is understandable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johno.UK

Funny old world isn't it? I love the Supercars series as the majority of saloon car racing in Europe is TCR now which leaves me cold. Yet the Aussies seem to be embracing it. Guess we all love what we don't have.

Can sometimes be the case Johno although I don't thing that Aussies (yet) are embracing TCR - much smaller crowds and all that. It's been a funny old world for some time where people outside of Oz have appreciated and loved Supercars much more than some inside Oz.

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“We’re far from having too much horsepower…[m]y definition of too much horsepower is when all four wheels are spinning in every gear.” ― Mark Donohue

Supercars don't appear to have a 5 year plan or 10 year plan, which must be alarming for competitors and fans.

10 year plans, other than some high-point items are a flog, particularly in the sports/entertainment business where things can and do change very rapidly.

I think that Supercars may well have a 3-5 year plan as the CEO has mentioned a number of things over time indicating that they are working to a timeline etc - certainly the plans for the 2022 car are well underway from what he's said.

We saw with the announcement to drop Commodore from the market last year that sometimes, multi-year plans get thrown out the window anyway.

On top of all that, any 5 year plan would be shared with the shareholders and those investing time/money, rather than with the world outside (us).

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“We’re far from having too much horsepower…[m]y definition of too much horsepower is when all four wheels are spinning in every gear.” ― Mark Donohue